The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) provides humanitarian and developmental assistance to children and mothers in developing countries. The abbreviation UNICEF came from its original name: United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund.

UNICEF is part of the UN but receives no funding from the UN budget. Instead it has to raise money from nations and citizens. Within the UK this is done by UNICEF UK, a registered charity.

UNICEF provides education, food, water, vaccines, emergency relief supplies and protection from violence. They work in over 190 countries, including the UK, where they have several programmes to help children.